CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION1.1 Background

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
This paper is intended to discuss the different learning strategies among the students in relation to their achievement in reading. The writer is interested in this issue due to her experience when she was in senior high school. She had two classmates. Both of them had been a passionate and enthusiastic learner of English ever since they started learning English in junior high school. However, there were some differences between the way they learned English. One of them always paid specific attention to the teacher’s pronunciation, repeatedly sounded words out loud, took notes in class, copied sentence examples from the dictionary, spent extra time on the grammar exercises, and even tried to speak English to any foreigners. The result was that she had a very good command of English, she was always an active speaker in discussion sessions. Meanwhile my other friend preferred to read English novels, books, magazines. She liked to make glossary in her notes, made poems, and even wrote her ideas in her book. No doubt, when we had assignment report, she always could cope with it with no difficulty. While the writer enjoyed all the positive experiences in learning and using English, I also remembered my classmates in junior and senior high school, who did not do so well in English. They could not pronounce the words correctly. They had a hard time understanding the grammar rules explained by the teacher. They felt anxiety and pressure in studying English. They scored poorly on the quizzes and exams. I wondered to myself, “What are the reasons for the discrepancy between the students in English learning experiences in school?”

When the writer was a student in school, she did not know the terms “learning strategies” or “learning strategy instruction,” although she certainly used strategies for learning English. As she continued her study to university majored in English of teacher training faculty, she found out that teachers need to know some kind of language learning strategies employed by students in order to deal with students. Brown (2002: 1) clear states that:
“There are many different kinds of learners. Some are fast, some are slow. Some learners like numbers and some like words. Some students are good at memorizing word for word; others are good at remembering general ideas. When studying English, some students find it easy to talk and other students prefer to listen, while some others are more eager to read”

The fact stated above connects to the terminology of language learning strategies. It means that each student has different way and behavior in learning. Language learning strategies are defined as specific methods or techniques used by individual learners to facilitate the comprehension, retention, retrieval and application of information for language learning and acquisition. Second language learner strategies encompass both second language learning and second language use strategies. Taken together they constitute the steps or actions consciously selected by learners either for the learning of a second language, the use of it, or both. (Cohen,1998:5).
In the past two decades, dozens of studies have contributed to the understanding of strategies employed by EFL students at the level of adults, college/university students, and secondary students. However, only two prior studies (Hsu & Huang, 2004; Kung, 2003; Lin, 2001; Su, 2003) focused on Junior high school EFL students’ language learning strategies. Hsu and Huang (2003) examined graders’ language learning strategy use and its relationships with gender and personality traits. Kung (2003) investigated 172 EFL elementary school students’ vocabulary learning strategies and the link between those strategies and overall English proficiency. In line with this, the writer is trying to connect the language learning strategies employed by students to their reading comprehension achievement. Reading is one of the language skills which has become the most sessions in teaching learning activities. Most reading lessons at school are based around a range of adapted ‘real life text’,e.g; magazine, labels, recipes, as well as newspaper articles and stories. The tasks encourage students to engage with text, to think about the language and to talk about the topics. The reading material as well as the strategy has been designed in such a way to motivate students to read. This arouses the question how students with different language learning strategies are able to reach the goal of learning. The goal of language learning is currently defined as “authentic communication between persons of different languages and cultural backgrounds” (MacIntyre et al., 2002: 559). In order to achieve this objective, learners need to set their learning goals, make their learning plans, choose their learning strategies, monitor their learning processes and evaluate their learning outcomes. In short, they are expected to be self-regulated learners. Pintrich (2000) defined self-regulated learning (SRL) as "an active, constructive process whereby learners set
goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior, guided and constrained by their goals and contextual features of the environment". Zimmerman (2000) also defined it as the degree to which students are motivationally, meta-cognitively, and behaviorally active in their learning process and in accomplishing their goals. Self-regulation involves monitoring, management and control of cognition, motivation, behavior, and environment in order to achieve self-set goals (Wolters et al., 2003).
Reading is a multi-factor, complex process which involves word recognition and comprehension. As reading is not a mechanical process but rather a meaning constructing activity, readers need to utilize their linguistic, cognitive, and socio-cultural resources when they break the code, understand the meaning and interpret the written text (Delbridge, 2008). Reading is most in need of self‐regulation because it challenges students to coordinate multiple types of information
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Based on the explanation in the background above, the writer tries to formulate the research into the following questions:
1. What learning strategies do the …grade students of SMPN..…… use in learning English?
2. What is the correlation between the students’ language learning strategy with their reading test scores?
1.3 Research Objectives
The objective of the research is aimed at:
1. finding out the students language learning’ strategies
2. finding out the correlation between the students’ language learning strategies and their reading test scores.
1.4 Hypothesis
Hypothesis is the statement about the probability of the research outcome (Sugiyono, 2007). The hypothesis proposed in this research is:
Ha: there is a correlation between the students’ language learning strategies and their reading test scores.

1.5 Limitation
In relevance with the aims of the study described above, this study is limited only to identify the language learning strategies which are frequently used by the students and the correlation between the students’ language learning strategies and the students’ reading score.

1.6 Significance
The result of this study can be a useful resource for the students to get the knowledge about the importance of applying appropriate language learning strategies in the process of learning a foreign language. The students’ understanding about the essential of language learning strategies in learning a foreign language might be able to encourage the students to select and employ language learning strategies which are suitable with their learning characteristics or their learning style. It is surely intended to abridge the students in meeting their language learning goals.
The result of this study can also bestow English teachers valuable information about how their students approach the language learning tasks. This information might be able to ease the teachers in designing learning activities which cover the diversity of the students’ language learning strategy. Therefore, the learning goals that would be achieved are easy to gain.




















CHAPTER II
LIERARY REVIEW

Definition and Categorization of Language Learner Strategies
Language learner strategies are the actions learners employ to improve the development of their language learning skills (Oxford 1990). Classification of language learner strategies varies somewhat, depending on the definition of the researcher in question. Since this study has used the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) as an initial measuring instrument of LLS, the classification system advocated by Oxford (1990) was utilized. Oxford developed a system of classification organized around a division of two strategy groups, direct and indirect. Among these, six strategy groups exist in total. Those strategies that directly involve learning the target language (TL) include memory, cognitive, and compensation. Memory strategies concern the storage and retrieval of new language. Cognitive strategies are the mental processes associated with manipulating, transforming, and interacting with the target language (TL). Compensation strategies are utilized by learners to offset inadequate knowledge needed for understanding and production of the TL. The second set of strategies suggested by Oxford (1990) includes indirect strategies or those involving actions or processes which learners regulate, manage, and self-direct in learning. Indirect strategies are those strategies limited to a supportive role without being directly related to the interaction of the language itself. Strategies categorized within this group include metacognitive, affective, and social. Metacognitive strategies are aspects associated with planning, monitoring, and evaluating the TL. Affective